“If it weren’t for my horse…”

Now for another entry in our occasional series of things I can never un-hear. All are spoken by actual humans. Well, perhaps not humans.

Today’s gem once again comes from a group of mothers lunching at one of Newtown’s many delightful eateries. I didn’t catch what the entire conversation was about, but for one instant, almost as by design, all the other ambient sounds in the room dropped out so that I might clearly hear the oldest of the bunch say:

“So I saw that my next door neighbor was out in her yard wearing overalls and a nice white cap, and you know she has such a deep tan, so I said to her, ‘oh, you look just like a little landscaper!'”

I heard that and I thought, “wow, so that’s how you say horrifyingly racist things in public and get away with it.”